Appliance and method for menu navigation

ABSTRACT

A capturing and viewing appliance and method are provided for capturing and communicating images to other appliances and devices with communication capabilities. The capturing and viewing appliance includes a processor for manipulating and viewing the images on a built-in display. Program code stored in internal memory includes a menu navigation interface application program which allows the user to use navigation buttons and operational buttons to operate the menu navigation interface in operating the appliance. The menu navigation interface provides a user-friendly interface for operating an appliance or other device through reuse of the navigation buttons and operational buttons in menu activation and deactivation as well as menu item selection.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. Utility Application Ser. No.09/588,944, filed Jun. 7, 2000, entitled, “APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF USINGSAME HAVING A DELETE CAPABILITY FOR SAVED DATA,” now issued as U.S. Pat.No. 6,496,284 issued on Dec. 17, 2002, which is a division ofapplication Ser. No. 09/130,082, filed Aug. 7, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No.6,292,273, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.

This application is also related to U.S. application entitled “APPLIANCEAND METHOD OF USING SAME HAVING A SEND CAPABILITY FOR STORED DATA,” nowissued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,396,518 issued on Dec. May 28, 2002; U.S.application entitled “APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF USING SAME HAVING A USERHELP CAPABILITY,” now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,304 issued on Apr.15, 2003; U.S. application entitled “APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF USING SAMEHAVING A CAPABILITY TO GRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATE AND DISASSOCIATE DATA WITHAND FROM ONE ANOTHER,” now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,469,689 issued onOct. 22, 2002; U.S. application entitled “APPLICATION AND METHOD FORCOMMUNICATING AND VIEWING MULTIPLE CAPTURED IMAGES,” now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 6,611,291 issued on Aug. 26, 2003; U.S. application entitled“APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF USING SAME FOR CAPTURING IMAGES,” now issued asU.S. Pat. No. 6,466,231 issued on Oct. 15, 2002; and U.S. applicationentitled “APPLIANCE AND METHOD FOR VIEWING CAPTURED IMAGES,” now issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,927 issued on Aug. 27, 2002, which are allentirely incorporated herein by reference.

This application is also related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,273 B1, which isentitled “APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF USING SAME HAVING A DELETE CAPABILITYFOR SAVED DATA”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,973 B1, which is entitled“APPLIANCE AND METHOD FOR NAVIGATING AMONG MULTIPLE CAPTURED IMAGES ANDFUNCTIONAL MENUS”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,020, which is entitled “APPLIANCEAND METHOD FOR CAPTURING IMAGES HAVING A USER ERROR INTERFACE”; and U.S.Pat. No. 6,160,926, which is entitled “APPLIANCE AND METHOD FOR MENUNAVIGATION,” which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to the field of digitalcapturing and, more particularly, relates to a user interface for aportable hand-held capturing and communicating appliance for navigatingmenus for the purposes of capturing and viewing images through digitalscanning or other means of capturing and communicating those images toother devices.

2. Related Art

Intangible information is a vital business asset that can be exploitedfor competitive advantage if managed properly. In the past fifteenyears, improvements in information processing have been achievedprimarily from the widespread use of microcomputers in the workplace andtheir application in local and wide area networks. Through suchapplications as electronic mail (email) and networked access to documentstorage servers, the electronic communications market has exploded.Nevertheless, business is still far from reaching a “paperless”workplace. For example, according to a 1993 report by BIS StrategicDecisions (hereinafter BIS), an information technology consulting firm,more than 90 billion documents were created in 1992 and more than 1trillion copies of those documents were made. Moreover, BIS estimatedthat printing and copying expenses average between 6% and 13% of atypical company's revenue. These statistics illustrate the economicsavings available for those businesses that are able to merge paper andtechnology in a unified information processing strategy.

One tool that has proven useful for translating between paper andelectronic information is the digital scanner. Scanner-enabled documentdistribution endows paper-based documents with the speed and convenienceof electronic communications. A desktop scanner or network scannerallows business professionals to scan paper-based documents, manage themeffectively and distribute them in a timely fashion. Users can share anddistribute information easily by scanning directly to their email or PCfax applications. The growing popularity of fax modems and email isdriving the acceptance of scanner-enabled document distribution inoffices of all sizes. Fax/modem capabilities, which are available withvirtually all modern PCs, enable users to send and receive faxesdirectly from a computer—at their desk or while traveling—and to checkemail remotely.

Nevertheless, while scanners are ideal for users who need to disseminatepaper-based information to colleagues through PC facsimile and/or email,traditional flatbed scanners lack the convenience and flexibility thatusers have become accustomed to through such products as notebookcomputers and cellular phones. Hand-held scanners are an improvement inthis regard; however, they are typically dependent on a host computerfor displaying the scanned images and for providing power. U.S. Pat. No.5,550,938 to Hayakawa et al. (hereinafter Hayakawa) discloses a portableimage scanner designed to overcome these disadvantages. Specifically,Hayakawa discloses a hand-held cordless image scanner having adisplay/control screen, a memory for storing scanned images, a selfcontained power supply and an interface that allows the scanner to bereceived by a host computer as a memory card for transferring storedimages from the scanner to the computer. While Hayakawa's scanner iseffective in breaking the dependency on a host computer for imagedisplay and power, it still has several drawbacks. For example,Hayakawa's scanner offers no image processing features other than thecapabilities of storing or discarding a newly scanned image andreviewing those images that have been stored previously. More advancedimage processing would necessarily be done after transfer to a hostcomputer. Moreover, Hayakawa does not offer a graphical user interface(GUI) containing icons and/or animations to assist users in operatingtheir device. Finally, transfer of images is limited to those deviceshaving ports for receiving an external memory card or the capability ofreading the scanner memory through a memory card drive.

Accordingly, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry forproviding a hand-held image capturing appliance and method that allowsusers to navigate among menus in the appliance reusing operationalbuttons in menu activation and menu item selection in operating theappliance. The hand-held image capturing appliance must be able totransfer the captured images to some other unit such as a computer,printer, or facsimile machine. In addition, the capturing device shouldprovide cordless operation and use a standard interface for transferringimages to other devices. A GUI is preferred to assist users,particularly novices, in operating the device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the inadequacies and deficiencies of theprior art as discussed hereinbefore. The present invention provides animage capturing appliance, which, as a non-limiting example, may be adigital camera, incorporating a menu navigation interface forcommunicating with and allowing the user to navigate menus by reusingoperational buttons in operating the appliance, as well as view capturedimages on the appliance and communicate those captured images to otherdevices. This interface, in conjunction with other interfaces,facilitates ease of use and hardware simplification and miniaturizationof the capturing appliance for seamless integration of the applianceinto a consumer's existing tools and processes.

The capturing appliance contains a capturing means such as photocellsand a storage means for storing captured images. A processing means isalso provided for processing the acquired image and displaying it on aself-contained display of the appliance. Program instructions areprovided in the memory of the appliance and allows the user to processimages through menus of options presented on the display. A plurality ofoperational buttons are disposed on the front of the appliance forinvoking such operations as sending or transmitting a captured image,deleting a captured image, rotating a captured image, or groupingcaptured images together.

According to an aspect of the invention, the appliance includes aplurality of navigation buttons that are used to select a specificoption from the menu. The software program includes a code segment fordemarcating the user selection from other menu items. Advantageously,button reuse is promoted as the selection of a particular menu option isconfirmed through operation of the same operational button used toactivate the menu. As a result, the need for a separate “enter” buttonis obviated. Further, a menu is deactivated by operation of a navigationbutton otherwise used to navigate multiple captured images in memory andto move a metaphoric icon in selecting an area on a captured image.

The present invention has many advantages, a few of which are delineatedhereafter, as examples.

An advantage of the menu navigation interface and method of the presentinvention is that they provide a simple procedure for operating anappliance using functional buttons.

Another advantage of the menu navigation interface and method of thepresent invention is that they provide a more flexible and user friendlyprocedure for operating an appliance.

Another advantage of the menu navigation interface and method of thepresent invention is that they provide a procedure for navigating menusof an appliance which is simple, easy to learn and efficient.

Another advantage of the menu navigation interface and method of thepresent invention is that they promote instrument reuse in operating theappliance.

Another advantage of the menu navigation interface and method of thepresent invention is that they can be employed in virtually anygraphical user interface (GUI).

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the followingdrawings and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional features and advantages be included herein within the scopeof the present invention, as is defined by the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1A is an elevation view of the hand-held image capture andcommunication appliance according to the present invention, whichdepicts a side of the unit containing the display screen, operationbuttons, and navigation buttons;

FIG. 1B is an elevation view of the appliance of FIG. 1A depicting theopposing side to that illustrated in FIG. 1A, which contains the capturebutton for performing an image capture;

FIG. 1C is an elevation view of the appliance of FIGS. 1A and 1Bdepicting an end of the unit, which contains the power button;

FIG. 1D is an elevation view of the appliance of FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1Cdepicting the opposing end to that illustrated in FIG. 1C, whichcontains a brightness button for adjusting the visual clarity of thedisplay screen;

FIG. 2 is a high-level block diagram of the internal hardware andsoftware architecture of the appliance illustrated in FIGS. 1A–1D;

FIG. 3 is a high-level state diagram of the application software of FIG.2;

FIG. 4A illustrates the attach version of the tools menu as it appearson the display screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 4B illustrates a first page group thumbnail image with navigationalbutton descriptors as displayed on the display screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 4C illustrates a page within a group thumbnail view of an imagewith navigational button descriptors as displayed on the display screenof FIG. 1A;

FIG. 5A illustrates the set capture mode menu with normal modedescription displayed on the display screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 5B illustrates the set capture mode menu with picture modedescription as displayed on display screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 6A illustrates the detach version of the tools menu as it appearson the display screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 6B illustrates the calibration instructions as displayed on thedisplay screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 7A illustrates the send menu as displayed on the display screen ofFIG. 1A;

FIG. 7B illustrates the send progress screen as displayed on the displayscreen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 8A illustrates the delete menu as displayed on the display screenof FIG. 1A;

FIG. 8B illustrates the delete confirmation dialog box as displayed onthe display screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 9A illustrates the help menu as displayed on the display screen ofFIG. 1A;

FIG. 9B illustrates the capturing a page instructions as displayed onthe display screen of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 10A illustrates the infra-red discovery screen with left navigationbutton designation as displayed on the display screen of FIG. 1A.;

FIG. 10B illustrates the interruption of an infra-red search with leftnavigation button designation as displayed on the display screen of FIG.1A; and

FIG. 11 is a functional flowchart showing the design and operation ofthe navigation buttons of FIG. 1A within the menu navigation interface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts throughout these several figures. Itshould be understood by those skilled in the art that some aspects ofthe present invention may be practiced on any apparatus for the purposesof navigating menus, not limited to apparatuses which include or do notinclude image capturing capabilities through a photoelement array orscanning. For example, a user may use the menu navigation interface ofthe present invention for navigating menus on different types ofcomputers and other electronic devices, especially hand-held, portableinformation appliances.

Architecture of the Image Capture and Communication Appliance

A portable, hand-held, image capture and communication appliance 22embodying the principles of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1Athrough 1D. Specifically, FIG. 1A depicts one side (i.e., front) ofappliance 22 where a flat-panel display 24 along with user operationbuttons 26, 28, 32, 34, 36, 38 and user navigation buttons 42, 44, 46,48 are located. Display 24 is preferably of the flat-panel variety toaccommodate the hand size dimensions of appliance 22. Common types offlat-panel displays suitable for use in the present invention includeelectroluminescent displays, gas plasma discharge displays, liquidcrystal displays (LCDs) and field emission displays (FEDs). Display 24is the means by which information, including captured images, text,icons, and animations, is communicated to the user.

The user operation buttons comprise an image send or transmit button 26,an image zoom button 28, an image rotate button 32, an image deletebutton 34, a help utility button 36 and a tools menu button 38. Send,zoom, rotate, and delete buttons 26, 28, 32 and 34 allow the user toelectronically manipulate an image or page that has been scanned intomemory through photoelement array 52. Activation of tools button 38presents the user with a menu that includes possible image operations(e.g., image attachment/grouping, image detachment/ungrouping), changingthe mode of appliance 22 (i.e., toggling between text (binary) captureand image (grayscale) capture), calibrating appliance 22, displaying ascreen identifying important specifications such as a model number,hardware or software release number, memory equipage, etc., or otheruser utilities not deserving of a dedicated external button foractivation. Help button 36 provides the user with access to both generaltutorials, process animations, and how-to instructions on the operationof appliance 22 and context sensitive instruction when requested whileanother operation or menu is active.

The navigation buttons include an up button 42, a down button 44, a leftbutton 46, and a right button 48 and are controlled by the user to steera course through menu items and to view images or pages that have beencaptured in memory. Additionally, the left button 46 is used todeactivate an active menu.

FIG. 1B shows the side of appliance 22 opposite that illustrated in FIG.1A (i.e., back). The back side of appliance 22 includes image capturebutton 54, which is depressed by a user to scan an image throughphotoelement array 52 and is released once the image is captured. Apower button 56 is included at one end of appliance 22 as shown in FIG.1C and a contrast control 58 for display 24 is located at the other endof appliance 22 as shown in FIG. 1D. The positioning of the variousbuttons, power switch 56 and contrast control 58 on appliance 22 asshown in FIGS. 1A through 1D is merely exemplary and can be modified asneeded to satisfy the ergonomic requirements of the targeted usercommunity.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the internal architecture of appliance 22 willbe described hereafter. Appliance 22 includes a processor 62, whichcommunicates with a memory 64 via address/data bus 66. Processor 62 canbe any commercially available or custom microprocessor suitable for anembedded application. Memory 64 is representative of the overallhierarchy of memory devices containing the software and data used toimplement the functionality of appliance 22. Memory 64 can include, butis not limited to, the following types of devices: cache, ROM, PROM,EPROM, EEPROM, flash, SRAM, and DRAM.

As shown in FIG. 2, memory 64 holds four major categories of softwareand data used in appliance 22: the operating system 68; the applicationsoftware 70; the I/O device drivers 72; and the image data 74 generatedfor each scan. Operating system 68 should be designed for real timeembedded applications and, preferably, is relatively compact to make themost efficient use of memory 64. One such example of a real timeoperating system meeting these criteria is the PSOSYSTEM operatingsystem (pSOSystem® or pSOS®) sold by Integrated Systems, Inc., SantaClara, Calif., U.S.A., which is used in the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention. I/O device drivers 72 include software routinesaccessed through operating system 66 by application software 70 tocommunicate with devices such as display 24, certain memory components64 and I/O ports such as a serial port or infra red (IR) port fortransferring data to another appliance, device or system. The binaryrepresentations of the images captured by appliance 22 is denoted byimage data 74. The format used for storing the images should becompatible with application software 70. One common format used forencoding images is the JPEG standard; however, other public orproprietary standards can be used with equal success. In the preferredembodiment, CCITT-G4, which is designed for facsimile usage, is used.Finally, application software 70 comprises the control programs thatimplement the various features of appliance 22. Application software 70and devices drivers 72 are typically written in a high-level programminglanguage such as C or C++ for development convenience. Nevertheless,some drivers or application modules are sometimes written in assembly ormachine language to optimize speed, memory usage or layout of thesoftware in memory. In the preferred embodiment, the present inventionuses C language to implement application software 70 and device drivers72 and assembly language for the most time-critical sections.

Application software 70 can be broken into several modules correspondingto the various features of appliance 22, as shown in FIG. 2. Thesesoftware modules include an initialization module 76, a capture pagemodule 78, a thumbnail view module 82, a zoom view module 84, a pagerotation module 86, an attach page module 88, a detach page module 92, adelete page module 94, a send page module 96, an error utility module98, a help utility module 102 and a menu/navigation interface module104. Note that an image captured in memory is interchangeably referredto herein as a “page” because the image is portrayed in appliance 22 asa physical page of text and/or imagery. A brief overview of each of theaforementioned modules follows hereafter.

Initialization module 76 contains the boot software that is invoked whenappliance 22 powers up. This module works closely with operating system68 and device drivers 72 to perform any hardware initialization forprocessor 62, memory devices 64, display 24, and software initializationfor global resources, such as message queues and buffers, system tasks,and memory partitions. Capture page module 78 controls the acquisitionof images through photoelement array 52 and their conversion into asuitable format for storage in memory 64. Thumbnail view module 82provides the default visual for pages and icons shown on display 24. Thethumbnail view presents an entire page on display 24 as illustrated inFIG. 4B. Zoom view module 84 allows the user to magnify a portion of apage. Page rotation module 86 allows the user to rotate a page either inthumbnail or zoom view in 90° increments. Attach page module 88 allowsthe user to logically join pages together to form a group of pages asillustrated in FIG. 4A through FIG. 4C that can be deleted, sent orviewed as an individual unit, but not rotated or zoomed. Rotation andzoom always apply only to the current page. Conversely, detach pagemodule 92 allows the user to separate a page or pages from a previouslyformed group. Delete page module 94 allows the user to purge a page orgroup of pages from memory 64. Send page module 96 allows the user totransfer a page or group of pages to another appliance, device or systemthrough the serial or IR communication ports of appliance 22. Errorutility module 98 provides notification to the user when the userattempts an invalid operation. Help utility module 102 provides theuser, in real time, with general instructions and animation on operatingappliance 22 and context sensitive instructions for performing aspecific operation. Lastly, menu/navigation interface module 104provides the user with graphical menus for performing various operationsand processes the user's response thereto. Moreover, menu/navigationinterface module 104 responds to navigation buttons 42, 44, 46, and 48that allow the user to steer a course through the graphical menus inoperating the appliance and works in conjunction with the thumbnail viewmodule 82 to view the stored pages. The operation of the menu/navigationinterface module 104 will be discussed hereinafter.

A high level state diagram for application software 70 is shown in FIG.3. This state diagram is useful for gaining a broad understanding of theoperation of application software 70 and its associated softwaremodules. These states are representative of tasks or processes inapplication software 70 that act on messages from a message queue, whichare generated as a result of user interaction with appliance 22 (i.e.,activation of buttons). Appliance 22 and application software 70 beginand terminate from the off state 106, which is controlled by the userthrough operation of power switch 56. Off state 106 can clearly beentered from any other state in response to a user turning appliance 22off through switch 56. When a user turns switch 56 to the on position,the system will pass through a transient initialization state 108 duringwhich time initialization module 76 is invoked to perform its functions.Once system initialization is complete, the system enters the thumbnailview state 112, which is the default state for viewing any capturedimages. From thumbnail view state 112, the system can transition to anyone of several possible states depending on the action by the user. Forexample, the capture button can be pressed to enter capture state 114 toperform an image capture. After the image is captured, the button isreleased to return to thumbnail view state 112. If the user wishes tochange the orientation of the captured image, then activation ofrotation button 32 will rotate the captured image 90° with eachinvocation. Moreover, now that an image is captured in memory 64, a usercan obtain a magnified view of a portion of the image or page bypressing zoom button 28 to enter zoom view state 116. Similar tothumbnail view state 112, the magnified image can also be rotatedthrough application of rotation button 32. The system will return tothumbnail view state 112 through operation of zoom button 28 orperforming certain actions such as capture, send, delete, attach,detach, etc. Additionally, the thumbnail view state 112 includesfunctionality for the empty (no image) state and the image verificationstate.

From thumbnail view state 112, one of four menu states can be entereddepending on the choice made by the user. First, activation of toolsbutton 38 will transition the system into tools menu state 118 where amenu of possible page operations and/or features is exhibited on display24 as illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 6B. Second, activation of send button26 will transition the system into send menu state 122 where a menu ofoptions for transferring a page or group of pages to another appliance,device or system is exhibited on display 24 as illustrated in FIG. 7A.Third, activation of delete button 34 will transition the system intodelete menu state 124 where a menu of options for deleting a page orgroup of pages from memory 64 is exhibited on display 24 as illustratedin FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B. Lastly, activation of help button 36 willtransition the system into help menu state 126 where a menu of helptopics is exhibited on display 24 as illustrated in FIG. 9A. Once any ofthe aforementioned menu states is reached, the user can choose a desiredmenu option by using navigation buttons 42 and 44 and then validatingthe choice by pressing a confirmation button, which is the same buttonused to activate the menu. Menu states may be exited or “canceled” bysimply invoking a navigation button to transition to a previous state.In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the leftnavigation button 46 has been designated as the cancel button in menustates.

From some states, an invalid response by the user (i.e., user presses aninactive button) will be ignored or will result in a transition to thedefault message handler state 128 where the user response is interpretedthrough the message that was generated internally and a transition ismade to the error dialog state 132 to notify the user of their error viaa message or graphic on display 24. Inactive buttons will occasionallyalso display a blinking icon to communicate to the user the selection ofthe inactive button and which buttons are active. Alternatively, errordialog state 132 can be entered directly if application software 70detects an error in the execution of a valid operation. The most commonexample of this is when the user follows an improper capture path withappliance 22 during the image capture process. In the preferredembodiment, within error dialog boxes, the left navigation button 46 hasbeen designated as the cancel button to provide user acknowledgment andremove the error dialog box from the display screen 24 as displayed inFIG. 10B.

The features provided by the menu/navigation interface software module104 for menu navigation will be described hereafter with frequentreference to (a) the architecture and operation of the applicationsoftware 70 of FIG. 2; (b) the flowchart of FIG. 11 and (c) the capturedscreen illustrations of FIG. 4A through FIG. 10B.

Operation of the Menu Navigation Interface and Method

Recall from the state diagram of FIG. 3 that when power is provided viaswitch 56 (FIG. 1C) application software 70 passes through a transientinitialization state 108 to reach thumbnail view state 112, which is thedefault state for capturing images using capture button 54 and viewingimages. Upon successfully capturing an image, the image is displayed asa thumbnail size icon on the display 24 (FIG. 1A). From the thumbnailview state, the appliance may reach various other states, i.e. TOOLSMENU 118, SEND MENU 122, DELETE MENU 124, HELP MENU 126 where usersinteract with a menu or message box to operate the appliance in thatstate. ERROR DIALOG 132 messages can be entered from any state. In allof the aforementioned states, the navigation buttons 42, 44, 46, and 48serve functions in conjunction with other operational buttons to enablethe user to operate the appliance.

FIG. 11 is a functional flowchart detailing the operation of thenavigation buttons 42, 44, 46, 48 within the menu navigation interfaceand method. After initialization of the appliance at power up, themenu/navigation interface software module 104 then determines whethernavigation of images is needed or whether a menu, message screen ordialog box navigation is needed. The logic checks if a menu is activated164. Menus may be activated by selection of an operational or functionalbutton of the appliance, such as the send button 26, the delete button34, the help button 36, and the tools button 38. If so, the logicconfigures the up navigation button 42 and down navigation button 44 toscroll a highlight bar though the selections of the menu 166 as shown inFIG. 4A, FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 6A, FIG. 7A, FIG. 8A and FIG. 9A. Theleft navigation button 46 is designated as an exit button and will exitfrom the menu and return the appliance to a previous state 166. In thepreferred embodiment, the right navigation button 48 is inactive in allmenu states. Advantageously, once the user has selected a menu itemusing navigation buttons 42 and 44, the selection is confirmed using thesame operational button (i.e., send button 26, delete button 34, helpbutton 36 or tools button 38) that was originally invoked to display themenu. As a result, an additional “enter” button is not required forconfirming menu selections, which is very beneficial in hand helddevices such as appliance 22 where button space on the device islimited. Using the same button is also faster and more convenient thanfinding and pressing a separate enter button. It should be understood bythose skilled in the art that any operational button, including theright navigation button 48 could have been used to initiate menuselection confirmation.

If a message screen is activated 174 as illustrated in FIG. 6B and FIG.9B, the up and down navigation buttons 42, 44 are configured to scrollthe message up and down within the message box 176. The left navigationbutton 46 is designated as the cancel button and cancels the messagescreen 176. The right navigation button 48 is not functional 176. If aprogress screen as illustrated in FIG. 10A or dialog box is activated184, the left navigation button 46 cancels the progress or dialog box186. All other navigation buttons 42, 44, 48 are not functional 186.

If the menu, message screen, or progress/dialog box is not activated,the logic determines that image navigation is necessary and enablesimage navigation interface 194 of the menu/navigation interface softwaremodule. In this interface, all navigation buttons 42, 44, 46, 48navigate among images in memory or move a metaphoric icon across thescreen to a designated area to be magnified 196 in a greater pixelresolution. As shown in FIG. 4B and 4C, the up navigation button 42 anddown navigation button 44 are designated within the interface to “flip”through the pages within a group. FIG. 4B illustrates the first page ofa group using a metaphoric paper clip in the top left hand corner. FIG.4C illustrates a page within the group as symbolized by the “folded”upper left corner. Icons on these pages indicate the navigationalbuttons 42 and 44 activated to “flip” through the pages as well as whichpage in the group is currently being displayed. Finally, the “licenseplate” at the bottom of FIG. 4B and 4C communicate to the user whichlocation in the contiguous locations in memory the group holds. It isalso accompanied by navigational button 46 and 48 indicators tocommunicate to the user that these navigational buttons 46 and 48 willdisplay the next or previous image displayed in the contiguous memorylocation before or after the group of pages.

The menu navigation interface program 104 of the present invention canbe implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combinationthereof. In the preferred embodiment(s), the menu navigation interfaceprogram 104 is implemented in software or firmware that is stored in amemory 64 and that is executed by a suitable instruction executionsystem.

The menu navigation interface program 104, which comprises an orderedlisting of executable instructions for implementing logical functions,can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device,such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or othersystem that can fetch the instructions from the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In thecontext of this document, a “computer-readable medium” can be any meansthat can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport theprogram for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device. The computer readable medium can be, forexample but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,or propagation medium. More specific examples (a nonexhaustive list) ofthe computer-readable medium would include the following: an electricalconnection (electronic) having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette (magnetic), a random access memory (RAM) (magnetic), aread-only memory (ROM) (magnetic), an erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM or Flash memory) (magnetic), an optical fiber (optical),and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM) (optical). Notethat the computer-readable medium could even be paper or anothersuitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can beelectronically captured, via for instance optical scanning of the paperor other medium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in asuitable manner if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory 64.

In concluding the detailed description, it should be noted that it willbe obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations andmodifications can be made to the preferred embodiment withoutsubstantially departing from the principles of the present invention.All such variations and modifications are intended to be included hereinwithin the scope of the present invention, as set forth in the followingclaims.

1. A digital camera, comprising: a photoelement array for acquiringimage data; a memory for saving said image data; a processor incommunication with said memory; a display in communication with saidprocessor for exhibiting said image data; a plurality of navigationbuttons; a plurality of operational buttons; and program code stored insaid memory and executed by said processor, said program code comprisinga menu navigation interface module for allowing a user to select one ofa plurality of menu options in response to the invocation of one of saidnavigation buttons, so that the functionality of said plurality ofnavigation buttons changes from a first set of navigation buttonoperating functions to a second set of navigation button operatingfunctions which correspond to a plurality of menu functions associatedwith a selected menu; wherein one of said navigation buttons is used toexit from said menu.
 2. The digital camera of claim 1, wherein saidprogram code further comprises: a first code segment for demarcating oneof a plurality of menu options displayed on said display, saiddemarcation representing a selection of one of said menu options.
 3. Thedigital camera of claim 2, wherein said demarcation is directionallymoved among said plurality of menu options using said navigationbuttons.
 4. The digital camera of claim 3, wherein said demarcation isbi-directionally moved using a pair of said navagation buttons.
 5. Thedigital camera of claim 4, wherein said pair of navigation buttonscomprises an up navigation and down navigation button.
 6. The digitalcamera of claim 3, wherein said selection of said option is confirmed bythe user through invocation of said operational button invoked toprovide said menu.
 7. The digital camera of claim 1, further comprising:means for communicating image data to a remote device.
 8. A digitalcamera, comprising: capturing means for acquiring image data; storagemeans for saving said image data; processing means in communication withsaid storage means; display means in communication with said processingmeans for exhibiting said image data; a navigation means; operationactivation means; and program code stored in said storage means andexecuted by said processing means for manipulating said image data, saidprogram code comprising a menu navigation interface module for allowinga user to select one of a plurality of menu options in response to theinvocation of said navigation means, so that the functionality of saidnavigation means changes from a first set of navigation operatingfunctions to a second set of navigation operating functions whichcorrespond to a plurality of menu functions associated with a selectedmenu; wherein said navigation means is a plurality of navigationbuttons, wherein one of said navigation buttons is used to exit fromsaid menu of options, status and information dialogs.
 9. The digitalcamera of claim 8, wherein said menu navigation interface modulecomprises: a first code segment for demarcating one of said optionsdisplayed on said display, said demarcation representing a selection ofsaid option.
 10. The digital camera of claim 9, further comprisingnavigation means for moving said demarcation among said menu of options.11. The digital camera of claim 10, wherein said operation activationmeans is a plurality of operational buttons.
 12. The digital camera ofclaim 8, wherein said selection of said option is confirmed by the userthrough invocation of said operational button invoked to provide saidmenu.
 13. The digital camera of claim 8, further comprising: a secondcode segment for providing an icon representative of said navigationbuttons on said display.
 14. The digital camera of claim 13, whereinsaid icon comprises: a pair of opposing arrows with each arrow uniquelyrepresenting a logical scroll direction.
 15. The digital camera of claim14, wherein said icon further comprises: a third arrow representing saidnavigation button used to exit from said menu.
 16. The digital camera ofclaim 8, further comprising: means for communicating image data to aremote device.
 17. An interface method for invoking the operation of adigital camera having a built-in display, comprising the steps of:selecting one of a plurality of menus in response to an invocation ofone of a plurality of functional buttons; changing the functionality ofa plurality of navigation buttons in response to selecting one of saidmenus from a first set of navigation button operating functions to asecond set of navigation button operating functions, such that saidsecond set of navigation button operating functions correspond to aplurality of menu functions associated with said selected menu; andexiting said menu in response to an invocation of one of said pluralityof navigation buttons; wherein changing the functionality of saidplurality of navigation buttons to said first set of navigation buttonoperating functions is made in response to said exiting.
 18. The methodof claim 17, further comprising the step of: displaying an iconrepresentative of at least one of said plurality of navigation buttonson a display.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of selectingone of a plurality of menus is made in response to an invocation of oneof a plurality of operational buttons.
 20. The method of claim 17,further comprising the step of: communicating image data to a remotedevice.
 21. A computer readable medium having a program for manipulatingimage data acquired by a digital camera, said program code comprising:logic configured for displaying a plurality of menus, each one of saidplurality of menus comprising at least one option displayed on adisplay, said options corresponding to operations capable of executionby said digital camera; logic configured for demarcating one of saidoptions, said demarcation representing a user selection of said option;logic configured for associating a first set of operating buttonoperating functions with a plurality of operating buttons, such thatsaid first set of operating button operating functions corresponds to afirst menu selected from said plurality of menus; logic configured forassociating a second set of operating button operating functions withsaid plurality of operating buttons, such that said second set ofoperating button operating functions corresponds to a second menuselected from said plurality of menus; and logic configured forprocessing a user selection of one of said options; wherein saidplurality of operating buttons are a plurality of navigation buttons;and further comprising logic configured for exiting said menu of optionsin response to an invocation of one of said plurality of navigationbuttons by the user.
 22. The computer readable medium of claim 21,further comprising: logic configured for moving said demarcation inresponse to a logical scroll direction entered by the user through oneof a plurality of navigation buttons.
 23. The computer readable mediumof claim 21, further comprising: logic configured for providing an iconrepresentative of said navigation buttons on said display.
 24. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising: logicconfigured for communicating image data to a remote device.